Inexpensive, all-in-one common focal range coverage

Slow

This is a second review of this lens, after shooting rolls and rolls of film in Exmoor and Dartmoor, England. Here are the practical results, based on this real-life usage:

At 28-50 mm focal lengths, this lens is just very, very sharp, rivaling the fixed focal length lenses I use on a manual Minolta.

At longer focal lengths, it is a little softer, but quite good. The sharpest results are obtained if you stop down to f8 or smaller, especially at 105 mm.

A very real practical consideration is that this is not a fast lens, and handheld shooting ISO 100 film is just going to be difficult under many situations with such a slow lens, especially if you use any filters. I shot about 50% ISO 100 and 50% ISO 400 Kodak Royal Gold print film, and quite frankly, I can't tell the difference at 8 X 10. The ISO 400 film will give you really good shutter speeds and crisp shots. My guess is that the loss in grain in the higher speed film is more than made up for by decreasing camera shake by virtue of the higher shutter speeds obtainable.

I continue to be really impressed by the macro performance, despite all the bad technical reviews. In practice, this lens will give you very sharp shots of typical subjects.

My recommendation is for routine print film shooting, load up with your favorite ISO 400 brand, ditch the tripod, and enjoy! If you only want to carry one lens on your Nikon for a walk in the country, this one is hard to beat for price and weight.

Customer Service

Not needed.

Similar Products Used:

Vivitar, Sigma, other 3rd party zooms

Excellent for "Consumer" grade lens. Combines light weight with good focal zoom. Adds a decent 1/2 size macro feature making it a good all around lens. Macro switch works as long as you remember to switch back to infinity. (Nikon - work on your instructions -make them legible - paper is cheap compared to glass elements)

Slower than pro lenses - but cheaper, lighter, handier, making it more likely to be "with you" when a photo opportunity shows up.
Make the instructions easier - many of your customers did not understand the "macro" switch

Great value - not quite areal 'pro" lens which is why is does not rate a five star overall.

Similar Products Used:

Several Nikon lenses. This one goes when others stay home

light weight
sharp images
use full zoom range
priced right

a bit slow could be made in a 2.8-3.5 for low light usage

Traded the 24-120 for the 28-105 & never regreted it.
Light weight & a good zoom range. Produces amazing results. Can not tell the difference between images produced with this lens & my 80 -200 2.8 up to 8x10 prints.
Could be faster but for the money it's a outstanding value.

Customer Service

none

Similar Products Used:

nikkor 24-120

Very good performer at a relatively low price.

I'm not wild about plastic, in general. Getting out of macro mode is stupid.

I wanted a single lens to use with our new N80 - a sort of high-end snapshot outfit is what we were looking for. I wanted better-than-average optical quality without selling the farm. The reviews on this site, along with the usual rounds of professional reviewers all pointed to this lens as a substantially impressive performer, especially balanced against cost and weight. Having just looked at prints from the first roll shot with this lens I must concur - its a winner.

I love my older metal Nikon manual cameras, and the AI and AIS lenses are marvels of mid-late twentieth century precision engineering - great optics, great mechanics, great looks, great reliability. I really don't care much for plastic replacing metal, but that's the way of the world, especially for consumer products. This lens, while built into a cheap plastic housing, really delivers. My only real complaint (other than the plastic) is that darn macro switch that everyone else is complaining about. I love the comment from the fellow who (regarding Nikon's instructions about this switch) said "paper is cheaper than glass." That's quite right. Better yet, Nikon, avoid this particular switching mechanism in the future, because it's downright stupid.

All zooms are a compromise, the weaknesses are most apparent at any of the extremes; max or min focal length, max or min aperture. You can be persnickety and fault this lens for its weaknesses at the extremes, or you can be realistic and appreciate how little damage occurs to the image at the extremes, especially for a zoom in its class. Personally, I really like the sharpness and color rendering, and the low-ish levels of distortion and vignetting that this lens offers. For the money it just can't be beat.

In my opinion, dollar for dollar it's the best mid-range zoom you can buy.

Customer Service

Haven't needed it yet.

Similar Products Used:

F2AS and FE2, lots of AI and AIS lenses.

Sharp and crisp, good color rendition

Slow, consider the price

This is an excellent lens in its price category. Slow, but suits most of the shooting situations. For available light photography, use AF50 f1.8 or 1.4. Combined with the 50mm, i am happy to use in any situations, except for telephoto ofcourse. Very good value for money. Highly recommended.

Customer Service

Not yet needed

Similar Products Used:

Other Nikon and Carl Zeiss lenses

This lens is light, flexible, and durable. It consistently gives me great images. Good color, good contrast, sharp. My favorite lens for backpacking.
Traded in my Tokina 35-300 on this -- great decision!

None worth mentioning.

Good all-around lens. If you can only carry one lens, this is it. Great value.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 28-80
Minolta 28-70
Nikkor 105mm f/2.5
Tokina 35-300

True wide though short telephoto range. Replaced our 28-85 and 35-105 Nikon AFs and allows us to leave 105 Micro Nikkor home when vacationing. Very sharp and contrasty compared to OEM optics of same zoom range.

Slow ...

Best bang for the buck in 28-105s for Nikon AF.

Customer Service

I told them I would like them to make the bayonet hood more secure ...they say it's tolerance allowance in the hood, try another hood. Not for those prices.

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 28-105/2.8-4.0 (low contrast, soft wide open at any focal length other than 28mm)
Tamron 28-105/2.8 (softer than it's 35-105/2.8 predecessor at all apertures and focal lengths, distortion obvious)
Nikon 28-85/3.5-4.5 (discontinued, traded towards 28-105)
Nikon 35-105/3.5-4.5 (also discontinued, wore it out)

Cheap,
Light in weight,
Good performance

A little slow

Great lens! From what I can see it is quite sharp at all focal lengths. A have not noticed any significant vignetting in any of my shots. Macro feature is useable, contrary to some reviews here. The macro switch operation is quite trivial. Looking forward to using this lens more.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor 50mm f/1.8

Quite sharp (especially at aperture > 6.7 and around 50mm).
Contrast and colors are great in general.
Lightweight and inexpensive.
Handy all-around lens for outdoor photographering.
The macro mode is nice thing to have there, even if the quality is not good at the edges (softness).

Vignetting is a real problem, when shooting in wide angle (28mm). You must use aperture of 11 to fully avoid this, hence for indoor photographering you just can't use it at 28mm (or your objects will get blind of flash light). Vignetting is still there when using the "basic" 50mm, but slowing down to 8.0 is enough to get good results.

Edge softnes at 105mm, especially in macro mode. Not real pain when you remember to avoid maximum aperture.

For me vignetting is a problem, it is just that bad. But for outdoor photographering lens is just perfect, when you have to carry only one lightweight lens with you. Still looking for a performer (haven't tried Nikons AF-S 28-70 2.8 yet)...

As a conclusion, when you know the limits of this lens, you can get great photos!

Customer Service

no experience (haven't needed!)

Similar Products Used:

Canon 28-80 (basic one, poor in quality)
Sigma 28-200 F3.5-5.6 (rating about one star)

Great Range - sharp lens with good contrast

A little slow, but ok for this range of a zoom

This makes a great travel, all purpose lens. Great to be able to shoot w/o changing lenses or using 2 camera bodies.

Customer Service

not needed

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 35-70AF, 80-200f/2.8, 200mmf/2.0, 300mmf/2.8, 20-35mm